Thw Difference between Good and Evil
by enigma939
Summary: Novel-verse. Bourne ponders upon the differences, or lack thereof, between him and his nemesis, Leonid Danilovich Arkadin.


**The Difference between 'Good' and 'Evil'**

**A/N: **This little one-shot is based on the Bourne from the novels, both the originals by Robert Ludlum and the continuation novels by Eric van Lustbader. While the Lustbader novels have received a lot of slander from critics I personally feel that they are definitely worthy of recognition, even though they come nowhere close to matching the Ludlum originals. I'm also quite fascinated by the character of Leonid Arkadin as a darker version of Bourne. This fic is about the differences (or lack thereof) between Bourne and Arkadin. While it would be necessary to have read at least one of the Ludlum and one of the Lustbader books to understand this, I guess the general concept would be comprehensible to anyone familiar with the idea of the Bourne character.

As Jason Bourne sat at a table at a cafe on the seaside and stared out at the vast expanse of the Indian Ocean, his thoughts turned, as they often did in the past few weeks, to his latest arch-nemesis, Leonid Danilovich Arkadin.

He knew that Arkadin was very capable and highly dangerous. He knew that the Russian assassin was a product of the Treadstone project and therefore had mastered the same lethal skills as an undercover operative and killing machine that he had. He knew that Arkadin has come close to killing him thrice so far, and had nearly succeeded each time but for dumb luck on Bourne's side. And worst of all he knew that Arkadin was still out there, biding his time, prepared to launch his next assault upon his enemy which might just be the decisive one.

But today Bourne was not particularly worrying himself over Arkadin's skill or his resourcefulness, both of which he had more than ample of his own. No. What concerned him today were not the similarities, but the _differences _between him and Arkadin...or the rather worrying lack thereof.

He knew that Jason Bourne was on the side of 'good' and Leonid Arkadin was on the side of 'evil'. But exactly what decided that. The fact that Arkadin was a killer?! Well, so was Bourne. Arkadin had killed for the Russian Mafia and for the Black Legion terrorist outfit. Bourne had killed for the US Government, and occasionally, for himself. Did it really make that much of a difference when they are ultimately both assassins, involved in their own private war, with little regard for the consequences of their actions upon others involved?

Arkadin had wanted revenge for the death of his lover Devra. But Bourne, of all people, knew what it was like to be motivated by revenge. It was why he had embraced the clandestine life offered him by Alex Conklin and the CIA in the first place. The memory of the death of his first wife, and his children, in Southeast Asia had filled him grief and rage which he had learnt to channel through his being into a positive force that would sustain the beast he would become. It was on the strength of revenge that a peaceful academic named David Webb had become the spy and assassin known as Jason Bourne. And he had spent years killing like a wild animal to satiate his bloodlust, to eliminate his grief, because _nothing _had mattered to him apart from making the pain go away. Until amnesia blurred the memory of the pain and until he met Marie and his life thus took on a new meaning. She was gone now, her death, though natural, a great grief to Bourne, but he knew as surely as he was sitting here in sun-drenched Bali that had her death _not _been natural, but the result of someone's actions, he would not have rested until he'd revenged himself on that person. And Arkadin, driven by the same grief, the same pain, had no doubt wanted to do the same. And his act of justified revenge was what was naturally being perceived as 'evil' by his target...

So if it wasn't what they were, or what drove their violent deeds that set them apart, then was it their backgrounds. Was it the fact that Leonid Arkadin hailed from a living hell on Earth called Nizhny Tagil, while David Webb, the man who would go on to assume the Bourne identity, was an academic from a respectable 'civilized' background who some would say has 'served' his country through the violent actions he went on to carry out. But honestly, did breeding, did 'civilization' really make a difference! Bourne had seen numerous 'civilized' men in suits seated at conference tables and offices and striding confidently down the hallowed hallways of power in Washington, who were in their outlook, as barbaric as Genghis Khan or Hitler or even Stalin had been. And was there anything 'civilized' about Treadstone whose entire purpose was to create the ultimate living weapons that would function outside the boundaries of civilized society? Was there anything civilized about clandestine killers who executed targets without mercy in the shadows? Were they any better than tigers or jackals or any number of wild predators in the forests? Was Bourne, the best among such 'human beasts' any better?

No.

So _what _did separate them? Arkadin's lust for power perhaps? A lust for material power and wealth which Bourne did not share. But then again, didn't Bourne too crave power in a sense. The power to survive against all odds, to lead his own life free from the torments of his past? Wasn't this also a lust for power that had often fuelled him to destructive deeds?

So ultimately there was no difference. No logical difference.

And _yet _there was a difference. There _had _to be one. He _knew _there was.

But he knew not what it was.

And he doubted there would ever be a rational answer to it.


End file.
